The Damage You've Inflicted: the Direst Sequel
by xmcrloverx
Summary: Frank and Gerard are really put to the test this year, both mentally and emotionally. Will old ways prevail, or can the couple keep each other alive and sane? Frerard. Read "And I'll End This Direst" on Ficwad or LiveJournal to understand the plot.
1. Chapter 1

**12-1-08 Author's Note:**

**M'kay, I don't care. I'm putting this sequel up for y'all anyway.**

**I'll just have to remember to back up this story, since I didn't back up And I'll End This Direst on this computer (my sister accidentally crashed the computer I wrote Direst on, so I had to re-type everything chapter by chapter).**

**By the way, if you ever want to re-read Direst, it is SLOWLY but surely going up on LiveJournal and FicWad. See me for details.**

**In the meantime, enjoy the sequel. I've made some edits, so if you've already read this part, forget what you've read so far.**

**Thanks :)**

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**Author's Note:**

**Okay, here it is! This story takes place at the beginning of the school year, a summer after Gerard and Frank met. It starts on the first day of eleventh grade for these two lovebirds, so enjoy from here!**

**Thank you for being so interested in "And I'll End This Direst." I hope you enjoy this one just as much!**

**Love you all, -xmcrloverx**

**P.S. If you don't understand parts of this story, you will have to stop and search for "And I'll End This Direst: a Frerard story." Hint: It will make a lot more sense to you when you do ;) Enjoy!**

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**The Damage You've Inflicted: the Direst sequel**

Frank's POV

"Hey, Gee!" I had to shout to be heard over the noisy halls during class change. He still couldn't hear me over the earsplitting people, so I tried again. "Way!" I bellowed. People always heard their last name when calling their first name didn't work, I'd learned. Gerard, a few groups of people ahead of me, stopped dead in his tracks and turned around, looking confused. I grinned and maneuvered my way around pissed people, who were now yelling at him to keep walking to class. When I caught up to him, he laughed and put an arm around me, furtively kissing me on the cheek.

"Oh, hey, Frankie. The new school year sucks; I don't see you enough. We don't even have lunch together." He looked at his schedule, double-checking where his next class was. I looked at mine, even though I knew exactly where I was going for the rest of the day.

"I know, babe. That's what home is for," I grinned, squeezing his shoulder. "But hey, we graduate next year. We'll see each other then." He laughed, and I glanced at his schedule. "We have the last class of the day together. Science. Just like last year," I said. I couldn't stop smiling.

"What do you have now?" he asked. I showed him my schedule in response. "Oh, history? I hate that class. I have art; I'm ready for it. It'll be nice to escape for a few minutes and draw a little. Then we'll see each other in science. Can't wait, babe," he said, giving me one last peck on the lips before slipping away from me to his art class as the late bell rang. I sighed, still grinning like an idiot, and made my way to my history class.

The period went by in a daze; I'd spent all day worrying about how Gerard would react to the first day of school. He spent last year suicidal and depressed, and I was going to make sure it didn't happen again. So far was so good, though, but I still wanted to keep an eye out for him. Elena had asked me to as well.

Finally, the bell rang, and I heard none any of the class rules or the stupid "ice-breaker" games that let you "get to know" your classmates. We were too old for those, anyway. I left my seat and made my way out the door, heading for my science class.

I was checking the room numbers on the door and looking at my schedule when I heard my name being called from across the hallway. I looked up at the mention of "Iero," and saw a boy dressed in black, complete with long hair and a pot laugh. Just like mine.

"Yeah?" I had never seen this guy before; I wondered how he knew my name. An expression I couldn't read flickered across his face, and he smirked. God, he reminded me so much of Gerard.

"Oh, nothing. I was just making sure I got the right person," he said, and strode away before I could ask who he was. Standing confused for a second, I shrugged it off and continued to try to find my science class. I was getting close when, for a second time:

"Frank!"

"What?" I barked, annoyed. I turned around and glared at the person who called me again.

"Whoa. Sorry, I—you okay?" Gerard's brow furrowed, and my eyes softened. I smiled and apologized.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just thought you were someone else. Some kid who I've never seen before just came up to me and made sure I was the person they were looking for. It was weird."

"Hmm, that is weird," he commented. "Hopefully he isn't trying to start something. But have you noticed that no one seems to care that their school has gays in it? We're making a statement, Frankie!"

It was true; we were making a statement. No one had bothered us at all since last year, and now more people were less afraid of showing who they were. It made me proud that we were setting the example and helping people overcome fears of other people. "See, Gee, I told you we would show them," I beamed at him, earning a kiss in response.

"I believed you, Frankie," he grinned back. "Now, do you know where our science class is? I've been looking for it for five minutes."

Fifteen minutes later, we walked into our science class, tardy as hell. Something about that kid that talked to me earlier irked me, and I couldn't get him out of my head. I was going to go crazy if I didn't find out who he was and why he wanted to know if I was Frank Iero.

This year was going to be a crazy one, I could feel it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:**

**Yes, yes, I know. This chapter is short as hell.**

**I'm trying.**

**I'll give you cookies if you don't complain :P**

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Frank's POV

Science went by in a quick blur; the only thing I was paying attention to was Gerard, who was, honestly, the only thing I was looking at.

Well, besides the giant spider in the hands of the kid sitting directly beside me.

I'm not kidding. Dead frogs and stuffed cats filled the room, as well as a few live mice and a couple of snakes. Our teacher also had pet roaches and spiders in glass cages, which creeped me out. I'm sure Gerard thought the classroom was cool, but it left me feeling uneasy and paranoid all period.

Needless to say, he was the first one laughing when I was the first one out of that classroom when the bell rang.

"Well, at least you weren't on top of the table screaming when the kid beside you wanted to hold the tarantula," he laughed, trying to hold back tears. I hit him on the arm and rolled my eyes.

"Well, at least I can take a needle," I retorted lightly, holding up my decorated knuckles. Gerard's eyes widened, and he looked like he was about to get hit by a truck.

"Needles are different than spiders," he said, blushing. "At least spiders can't poke a hole in your skin and inject stuff that can potentially kill you." A pause, then, "Oh, wait, never mind."

"Ha! See?" I grinned, showing my triumph.

"Not all of them, though. But being afraid of needles is logical. Arachnophobia isn't."

"Whatever, Gerard. You know I'm the winner of this argument."

He laughed softly to himself as we walked down the hall to go home. I was glad science was our last class of the day; it would be easy to find each other and walk home afterwards.

We walked through the school doors and were met by a gust of crisp, early-autumn air. It felt nice; I've never really felt the breezy beginning of autumn on my skin because I was always hiding it from the world. The long sleeves and jackets covered up the bruises and cuts from myself and my parents on my arms, preventing me from feeling the start of autumn. Not anymore; my healed bare arms felt both the cool wind and the warm hand wrapped around me as we walked.

"Oh, Frankie?" Gerard asked, breaking the silence. "Did I tell you Ray finished writing his guitar part into 'Early Sunsets Over Monroeville'? He's going to come by tomorrow or the next day and play it for us."

"Really? That's great! That was fast," I said, awed. "Toro doesn't waste any time." Gerard nodded, grinning proudly.

"I can't believe you two sound so good together," he commented. "It's like you guys were meant to play guitar in the same band. It's weird; your styles are both so different."

"That might be why it sounds so good," I laughed, turning onto Gerard's street. It was true, and I had been surprised that Toro's and my guitar styles harmonized so well with each other. We had, as a three-person group, written eleven songs, including an instrumental song that Toro and I came up with one day while Gerard was in detention. We just called it "Romance," since it had no words anyway.

"Hi, boys," Elena called to us as she headed out the door. We met her on the porch on her way out. "Bridge club. You know the drill: do your homework, try not to do anything illegal, and Gerard, please don't break anything."

"I won't, Grandma," Gerard smiled, rolling his eyes playfully.

"Watch him, Frankie," she retorted, taking a few steps to her car and winking at me. "I'll be back in an hour or so."

"I love her," I said, grinning after her car had left.

"How can you not?" Gerard asked, going into the house. When we had gotten inside and settled, Gerard gave me that smirk. The maddening one that I never could resist. The one that reminded me of the boy that I saw today.

"Frankie?"

"What?" I asked, shaking the boy out of my head. Why was he bothering me so much? I'm probably overreacting.

"Can you play me your part of 'Early Sunsets Over Monroeville' again?"

"Again?"

Gerard grinned. "Please?"

I gave in to his toothy smile. "Let me go get Pansy," I said, pretending to sound burdened by that feat.


	3. Chapter 3

Gerard's POV

As I hummed the last chorus and he strummed the last note, I couldn't help but get up and kiss him. Pansy between us and everything.

"Thank you, Frank. I love you," I said, smiling down at him.

"Yeah, yeah," he joked, standing on tiptoe to reach my lips again.

"Come on, guys. Can't you leave each other alone for two minutes?"

"Toro!" Frankie yelled, running towards Ray and flinging his arms around him like a little kid. Ray towered over him, being six feet tall already. Toro was a tall guy.

"Frankie… get off," he grunted, smiling and holding Frank's head away from him at arm's length. Frank scowled and stuck his tongue out at Ray. Then, eyeing the guitar case Ray was holding, he forgot all about acting like an immature little kid and became one naturally.

"Did you write it? Did you?" overexcited Frankie asked.

I laughed as Ray looked toward me pleadingly. I shrugged in return; Ray insisted on making fun of Frank's height by calling him a little kid, so Frank consequently acted like one around Ray. It was all a joke, though; together Frank and Ray were the most mature people I knew. They were the best friends I'd had in a long time.

"Okay, let's hear what you got," now-serious-Frank said, eyes sparkling and excited. I loved Frankie when he was like this: anticipant and ready for whatever was to come. Guitar was his passion, and like Ray, he could be legendary. Van Halen legendary.

Ray broke out his guitar and the sheet music he'd written, and we all sat down to listen to his part. When he was finished playing, Frankie and I were without words. It was so different than Frankie's part, but I could already imagine how brilliantly docile the two would sound together.

"Toro, that's amazing," Frank said, punching Ray on the arm. "That's going to be kickass whenever we finish it."

"What's that, the last one on our fake album?" I asked jokingly. We'd already gotten together and written ten songs, one being an instrumental (I was in detention that day last year. My teacher didn't like me much…), and we joked around with names for our first album. Toro wanted a romance themed name, Frankie wanted something that had to do with knives or guns, and I wanted to choose something that would memorialize Bob without being too depressing. Bob wouldn't have wanted that.

"Yeah," Ray said, laughing. "We've already written all of them. Dude, Drowning Lessons is amazing. We should name the album something like that. Or Our Lady Of Sorrows. Or…"

Frank and I exchanged gazes. Someday, Ray would be the ideal band member. He had it all, and his interest in music was phenomenal. After a few hours of discussing music and comic books (no one said we were cool), Ray said he had to leave to finish his homework, cursing his school for giving it to him on the first day as he walked out the door.

When he was gone, Grandma's car pulled up. We heard Grandma's loud greetings and Ray's quieter responses from inside the closed door, and then Grandma laughed and entered the house.

"That is such a fine young man," Grandma commented absently to herself upon walking in. "Needs a haircut, though, but fine nonetheless."

"Grandma, you think everyone needs a haircut," I commented, helping her take off her coat.

"Well, that one time, your hair was so long, everyone thought I had a granddaughter," she retorted with a smirk. "They kept asking me where my grandson went. It was comical."

Frank snorted, and I shot him a playful death look. "Stay out of this, arachnophobe," I laughed, and he rolled his eyes.

"One day, I will find out the sciencey name for a person who is afraid of needles," he vowed.

Over dinner, we talked about how the first day of school went, and if we liked our teachers or not. I didn't tell them, but my first day was kind of shit, except for science and art. The Jason kid I had a problem with last year was in my math class, and one of Alex's friends was in my English class. Slam, I think was his name. He didn't exactly let me off easy for what happened last year. He didn't get out of English class without a bloody lip, though.

"And then the kid sitting beside me said, 'Oh, I want to hold the tarantula!'" Frankie was telling Grandma of his science class experience with wide eyes and a horrorstruck face, and I could tell she was trying not to burst out laughing. Seeing her trying to restrain herself only made me want to laugh, and when I cracked, so did she. Frank looked dismayed for a second, and then glared at me, as I was the one who started the laughing fit.

The glare didn't last long, though. Five minutes later, when all of our stomachs hurt from laughing too much, we declared that dinner was over, and that it was a lot later than we had thought it was. Apparently, time flies when you're enjoying life.

Frank yawned and went to shower, leaving me with Grandma.

"Hon, I want to see you have fun this year," she started after he had shut the door and started the water. "I know your brother and those boys that stabbed your friend last year are going to be hard to forget, but try not to let them get to you. You could use a little good in your life. You sure deserve it."

I smiled. "Thanks, Grandma. I'll try not to get into trouble with them again. I've got Frank to help me through it now."

"So I don't need to give you the 'be careful' lecture?" Grandma asked.

I laughed. "No, you don't."

It didn't occur to me until later that I didn't know what exactly I had to be careful for.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:**

**Hey, guys! Sorry, this chapter is going to suck. It's mainly just a filler. Just warning you now.**

**This is what happens when I see the future events of the story happening in my head, and I don't know when to place them (or in what order). I've also been extremely busy, and I've been dragging this chapter on for a while trying to perfect it. Bear with me, it'll get better.**

**Thanks, sorry for the suckiness! -xmcrloverx**

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Frank's POV

I woke up the next morning feeling invincible, like nothing could touch me. That wasn't an unusual feeling; now that I had Gerard, I spent a lot of mornings waking up and feeling safe. I was enjoying my life since I'd had time to heal from my mother, but I wondered when he would eventually get tired of having me around and make me leave. I was used to that happening, more than he knows.

Before I could finish my thoughts, Elena walked into the room and turned on the light. I heard Gerard bumping around in the other room, and I wondered how long it would take her to pry him out of bed today. As if she could read my thoughts, she smiled at me and rolled her eyes in his direction, telling me how nice it was to have a grandson who wasn't lazy in the morning.

"If you want, I can pour some freezing water over his head to wake him up," I jokingly offered, sniggering to myself. My suggestion was met by an almighty thud and a loud "Noo!" coming from his room.

"I don't know how you do it," Elena sighed, and made her way back through the house. I laughed to myself and walked to Gerard's room to make sure he was really up. When I walked in, he had picked himself up from the floor and had gotten back into bed. He rolled over and his sleepy eyes met mine briefly, then widened in horror.

"No! Stop, stop! I'm awake, I swear!"

"Relax, Gee. I don't have any water," I smirked. I held up both my hands to show that I wasn't kidding, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good. I knew you wouldn't do something that awful to this pretty face you love so much," he replied, looking smug.

"That's not to say there isn't hot coffee right outside this room," I warned. "I'm sure boiling liquids will wake you up much faster than cold water will." He grumbled a few words and reluctantly stood up out of bed.

"You're so mean to me, Frankie," he mumbled, smirking that infatuating smirk that I had grown to become so obsessed with. I forgot that I was pretending to be strict with him and got up on my toes to give him a kiss, to which he smiled. He then grabbed my shoulders—lightly still, even though I had been free of all bruises for a little under six months—and began to pull me down onto his bed.

"Gee, we gotta go to school," I said, laughing quietly while I ran my hands through his untidy hair trying to comb it down to a non-vertical arrangement. He shook his head free from my finger-comb, which wasn't working anyway. "And your hair is defying the laws of gravity. You could be our next science experiment."

He scowled at my remark, despite the actuality of it. "We don't have to be at school for another half-hour," he whined, pinning my hand by my side so I'd leave his hair alone. To show his protest, he laid back down on his pillow and closed his eyes, guiding me to do the same. I did (but not after griping about how I spent all that time trying to fix his hair and he was just going to _flatten _it, just like that), and we cuddled for about five minutes before I felt like I was about to go to sleep again. "Hey, Gee, we really have to go—"

The only thing I heard after that was Elena's footsteps, her laugh, and some form of her teasing scolding. After that, all I felt was an arctic surge of ice and water.

"Grandma!" Gerard screamed, suddenly wide awake and very much out of bed. He, like me, was drenched and shivering, trying to keep the heat circulating through his body.

"You st-stole my idea!" I stuttered. I couldn't help it; my teeth had started to chatter by this point.

Elena was in hysterics. I wouldn't have thought it funny otherwise, but seeing her doubled over, hands on her knees laughing made my brain think it was okay to laugh as well.

"Boys, if only you had been up to see your faces," she laughed, wiping tears from her eyes. Gerard had a deep glare painted on his face, which made me laugh even harder at the sight.

"Elena, you got his hair down!" I said through fits of laughter, and I saw Gerard trying to fight the urge to flip me off in front of his grandmother.

"Babe, I've been the secret to his tame hair since he was thirteen," she grinned and walked out of the room. Gerard exhaled shakily, trying to peel off his glacial sopping wet shirt in a manner that none of the icy material would touch him.

Forty minutes later, we were late to school. Very late.

"Remind me never to try to get you up in the mornings," I breathlessly told him as we ran across the school's front lawn. The area was clear of all students, since class had already started. I pecked him once on the lips good-bye, and we parted ways to our classes.

As I turned left down the hall to my homeroom, I heard a voice hiss my name. I turned and was looking at the kid I saw yesterday, the kid I'd never seen before. "Uh, hey," I said, trying to get to class.

"Hey, Frank," he said, smiling at me. I was kind of creeped out that he said my name as if we'd been friends for a while. "You know me, right?"

"Um, sure." I really didn't want to be rude, and I didn't want to invite him to a conversation. I was late enough as it was. "Well, I guess I'll talk to you later."

"Wait," he said, flicking away a shadow of a smirk. "You'll be counted late. You don't want a detention on the second day of school, do you? We should go off-campus somewhere." I saw that he wasn't going to let up, and I really didn't want a detention, so I shrugged.

"I guess that's better than getting a detention." At this, he smiled again, and I knew I was trapped.

"I know this place that's better than here," he said. I was stuck; I had no choice but to go with him now.

"Sure, let's go before we get caught," I replied wearily, looking towards the guy who was about my age and a little taller. Big surprise there.

We made our way off-campus, talking about music and stuff, when I realized that maybe this kid wasn't so weird after all. He had, after all, saved me from a detention. Not like I couldn't have done that myself, but he wasn't exactly in class, either.

"You ever been to the pizza place near here?" the kid asked.

"What, you mean the one down this street? Yeah, I came here last year with someone, but we didn't get very good service." I didn't want to tell him the details of the story, naturally.

"Oh? Well, it's better now. I've been in there a few times since last year, and they're under new management. We can go later, when it's closer to lunchtime."

I felt a little reluctant, and felt a small rancor towards the pizza restaurant we were talking about since it had treated Gerard and I so badly when they thought we were a couple. But the guy seemed like he wanted to go, so I agreed.

"By the way, I'm Frank, as you already know. What did you say your name was, again?"

What was it with this guy's smirk? Maybe it's the cold water I got drenched with this morning. It's got to be somehow affecting my brain.

"Ben," he grinned. "Nice to meet you, Frank."

Gerard's POV

Still shaking my hair dry, I let it fall into my face as I walked through my homeroom door. The teacher was calling roll as I found my seat under all the stares.

"Mr… Way, is it?" she asked. I nodded, still not looking up. "Nice of you to show up, Mr. Way. Unfortunately, I have to give you detention. We can't start off the year thinking we can get away with being late, can we?"

I cursed at her under my breath. At least I'd be seeing Frankie in science. And now, apparently detention.


	5. Chapter 5

Frank's POV

Getting along with Ben was a lot easier than I expected. He wasn't nearly as creepy as I thought he was. We spent a good while of the morning just walking and talking about ourselves and each other. I learned that Ben had recently moved to Belleville from Washington because he had gone through some hard times with his family (I knew what that was like, I said. It was good talking to someone who went through pretty much the same things as I did), and he wanted to start over with a clean slate in Jersey. I also found out that we shared a lot of the same interests and past-times, and that he was really easy to talk to about pretty much anything.

The morning sped by faster than I thought, and before I knew it, it was nearly lunchtime.

"Whoa," I said, looking at my watch. "I didn't even realize we'd been out so long. I'm starving."

"Yep. Let's go get pizza before we die of starvation and fatigue," Ben said, grinning. I laughed and walked with him toward the street with the pizza place, hoping that it had indeed changed since the last time I'd been there with Gerard.

When we reached the restaurant, I saw that it had been remodeled and upgraded on the interior. It looked a lot cleaner in general, and I relaxed a little as we walked in. I was glad I had remembered to bring money with me today regardless.

"Can I help you gentlemen?" the man behind the counter asked. I nodded at Ben and waved my hand forward, letting him order first. He ordered his pizza and his drink, and the man behind the counter looked at me, waiting for me to tell him my order.

I was confused for a second, wondering why he wasn't telling Ben the price of his meal. Then it occurred to me that the man thought we were together, but the look in his eyes wasn't hate or suspicion. It was, however, growing more and more expectant very quickly.

"Oh!" I said, jumping out of my thoughts. "We're ordering separately." I blushed a little as the man chuckled quietly to himself and turned back to Ben.

"It's okay, sir. My fault; we have couples coming in here all the time. It's hard to tell who's together and who's not." To my surprise, he didn't seem the least bit resentful towards homosexuals at all. I smiled to myself and reminded myself to give this man a little extra tip.

"Okay, sir, I apologize again for the mix-up. Now what would you like to order?" the man asked me after Ben had paid.

"It's fine. I'd like a Coke Zero and a slice of vegetarian pizza," I said, pulling out my wallet. "No sausage, please," I said very quietly. The man looked confused.

"Sausage is a meat, sir. We don't put meat on vegetarian pizzas. That's what the word 'vegetarian' means," the man said slowly and with a small smile. Ben was looking at me like I had the words "I am a purple elephant" written on my face. I just laughed like I had tried to make a small joke and handed the man the money when he told me the price.

Ben and I chose a table and sat down, sipping our drinks and waiting for our pizzas. We talked some more about music we liked and compared different front men, and then we were given our pizzas.

I smiled to myself on the inside when I saw that mine held no sausage.

Gerard's POV

After getting detention for my first class, the rest of the school day went by slowly and painfully. I got yelled at in three classes, almost received a second day of detention, and had a rock thrown at me by Slam in the middle of English class. Where he got a rock in English class is beyond me. Thankfully next period was the last class of the day, which was science with Frankie. He'd make my day better.

When the bell rang, I got up and walked briskly down the hall to my science class. As I turned into the room, I was greeted by a giant snake on the shoulder of my teacher. He asked me if I wanted to pet it, and I nodded my head. It wasn't slimy at all; it was cool and dry. I laughed to myself as I found my seat; Frankie would have been freaked out by it.

When the bell rang, I saw that Frank had still not shown up. Maybe he forgot where the room was, I thought. Or maybe he's waiting for me. I was trying not to worry about it, but after about twenty minutes, Frankie still hadn't shown up. I knew this school wasn't _completely _used to having "faggots" around, and it worried me that Frankie could be in trouble.

I pulled out my cell phone and punched in Frank's number (Grandma had gotten him one for Christmas, as well as 1000 texts a month for both of us. Best Christmas ever). I opened a new text message and typed:

_hey, where r u? worried about u. u ok?_

I sent it and waited on the edge of my seat for the rest of the period for a response. I never got one, and that scared me. Maybe I was overreacting, he could have just skipped science for some strange reason. If he wasn't in detention in a few minutes, though, then it would be time to call the cops and form a search party to go out and look for him.

The bell rang, and I trudged to the detention room. Frank was not there. I handed the teacher my slip of paper and gave her my name when she asked, and she pointed to a seat in the front row for me to sit in. The other nine or ten kids there just stared at either me or their desks, whichever looked more interesting.

Half an hour into the detention, I still hadn't seen Frank. I was watching the clock and bouncing my leg with worry, wishing I had the power to move the hands on the clock faster with my mind. Telekinesis. Now _that_ would be cool.

When I saw that the teacher wasn't looking at me, I whipped out my phone and tried to send Frank another text. This time it said:

_where r u?? if u get this, PLZ reply!!! scared shitless cuz u werent in sci or detention! r u ok?_

Seconds after I sent the message, a ruler smacked my desk.

"Mr. Way. There are absolutely no cell phones allowed in detention. Hand it over," the teacher said, holding out her hand.

"What? I was just about to put it away," I said, putting my phone in my pocket.

"I don't care, Mr. Way. Hand over the phone without any arguments and you might get it back after detention's over."

"'Might'?" I challenged. I wasn't in the mood for this. Apparently worrying makes me grumpy. Or maybe I was just naturally grumpy. Who knows. If I had to give her the phone now, Frankie might text back while she had it and need help or be in trouble or something, and I wouldn't be able to read it or help him. Then again, I was in detention, where he should have been. I couldn't do very much to help him anyway sitting in class.

"Yes, 'might'," she said, burning holes in my skin with her eyes. "Now give me the phone or I will have to take it by force."

I rolled my eyes and snorted. She thought she was tough, but she was humiliating herself. I gave her the phone with a quiet curse and was told to stay after.

I had such awful luck. I still didn't know where Frank was. And no, the teacher certainly did _not _give me back my phone after detention due to my "attitude problem." She said a parent or guardian would have to come by the office later to pick it up. This is why I used to change schools all the time. I could never keep my temper when it came to these incompetent teachers.

This was not my day.


	6. Chapter 6

Frank's POV

"And that's when this dude throws his shoes at him! It was hilarious! The dude got a medal for it and everything!" Ben was animately recalling news he'd heard that day, and we were falling over laughing. He wiped a tear from his eye and continued gasping for air.

"God, that's hilarious!" I commented, my stomach starting to hurt from the laughter. I looked up at the sun, which was starting to set. It cast dark shadows across the ground, which was covered by brown and orange leaves. A breeze chilled my arms, and I pulled my coat closer to myself. I pulled out my phone to check the time and saw that I had two new text messages.

"Who are they from?" Ben asked when I voiced this. He too pulled out his phone to check the time.

"Just... somebody," I said, distracted by the messages. Gerard had texted me earlier that day; he was worried about me. I must have been so busy I didn't feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. Why would he be worried, though? That was weird.

"Damn, it's almost five o'clock," Ben stated, snapping his phone closed.

"Shit, really? School let out nearly two hours ago," I said. "I gotta get back home."

"Yeah, me too. I had fun today, Frank. I'll talk to you... wait, give me your number before I go." Ben handed me his phone and I punched my number in, storing it in his contacts. He did the same for my phone and gave it back. "Alright, Frank, see you tomorrow."

"See ya," I said, and we went our separate ways down the sidewalk to our houses. I broke into a jog, realizing Elena and Gerard would be worried if Gerard had made it home and I hadn't. I should have kept better track of the time, but I was having too much fun hanging out.

When I got home, the first thing that happened was a little painful. No sooner had I walked through the door when a blurry, solid mass collided into me, sending me crashing to the floor in a matter of seconds. The dark mass landed on top of me, and it took me a second to gather my senses.

"Ow!" I shouted, startled. "Gerard, what the hell?"

"Text! Detention! Phone! Worried!" He stammered, trying to string together a sentence. I just rolled my eyes and pushed him off me.

"Gee, I'm fine," I said, picking myself up from the floor. "I just skipped today, that's all. Grow up."

"You skipped?" Gerard asked, confused. "All day? By yourself?"

"Frankie! You've got to start telling people where you are and when you're going to be home," Elena called, appearing out of nowhere. She was holding a wooden spoon, and I pretended to look afraid.

"I'm sorry! I'll never do it again!" I joked, looking at the spoon. "Is that spaghetti sauce?"

"It sure is, dear. Dinner's almost ready," Elena said, disappearing back into the kitchen. I turned to Gerard and apologized for making him worry.

"I didn't know if you were in trouble or not," he said. "How come you didn't respond to my texts?"

"I was hanging out with this kid. Remember the guy I was telling you about? The one that knew my name and I didn't know him? Well, turns out his name is Ben, and he's really cool," I explained. "When you and I were late this morning, he showed up and said he would skip with me instead of getting detention, so I went with him. I didn't feel my phone in my pocket when you texted, I guess."

"Oh," Gerard said, looking down. "Well, at least you're okay. Don't scare me like that again."

"Okay, boys, dinner's ready," Elena said, putting plates on the table.

Gerard's POV

Dinner conversation was normal; I had nearly forgotten about the day's worries until I was reminded that I had no phone. I told Grandma about this, and explained that she would have to pick my cell phone up from the school office the next day in order for me to get it back. She nodded and said she would drive me and Frank to school the next morning to make sure we weren't late again and that she would get the phone then. I thanked her, and when we had finished our spaghetti, we left the table to start whatever homework we had.

Well, whatever homework I had. Frank of course didn't have any homework that day, so he sat on my bed and watched me as I did mine in my room.

"So this Ben kid sounds pretty cool, considering what you said about him at dinner," I said, trying to make conversation.

"Yeah, he's awesome. You'd like him a lot," Frank told me. I was concentrating on a sketch for art class that was due in a week, but I was bored and had nothing better to do. It was supposed to be a sketch of ourselves, but in a figurative sense. We had to incorporate our hobbies and interests in our drawings and use them to "tell a story" about ourselves. Right then I was thinking of ways to describe myself without seeming too bloody or disturbed.

"So what did you guys do all day? Jersey isn't that interesting," I joked, knowing how much pride Frank had in his home state.

"Shut up. Jersey's awesome. We actually went to that pizza place again. You know, the one you and I went to last year."

I choked on my own spit. Oh the wonderful memories. "You what?"

"Well, it's better now. They've got new management, and they treat their customers a lot better. The guy behind the counter thought Ben and I were a couple and he didn't put sausage on my pizza!" Frank was grinning widely, happy to tell me this news.

"He thought you were a couple?" I asked. What were Frank and Ben doing that made the guy think they were a couple?

"Yeah, he said they had a lot of couples coming in lately, and it was hard for him to tell who was together and who wasn't," Frank explained.

"Oh, okay," I said slowly, going back to my sketch. I must have had a sour look on my face, because he stopped talking and looked at me with concern. He then guessed what I was thinking and said slowly,

"Aw, Gee, it's nothing like that. We were just hanging out, that's all. I remember the promise I made you; you know I'd rather die than break that promise," Frank said, lowering the sketch from my hands to the bed. He rose to his hands and knees from his sitting position and crawled over to me, settling himself in my lap. I cradled him in my arms and he curled up into a little ball like a small child would. I laughed and kissed the top of his head and he smiled back warmly. My insides melted just like they always had when he smiled, and I knew he was telling the truth.

"I believe you," I said, laughing softly into his hair. He shivered due to my warm breath, and I hugged him tighter. He looked up and kissed me on the side of the mouth, then once on the nose, then on the lips. I grinned into the kiss, and that was all I could remember before falling asleep.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Hey, guys.**

**This is pretty much a filler chapter. I remembered that I hadn't updated this story in a while because school is awful, but now I have two weeks off for winter break! :) So I'll update more often for y'all.**

**Sorry this sucked.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Crap. Does anybody possibly have a copy of "And I'll End This Direst" that they by chance copied to their computers? I seriously doubt anyone would actually like the story enough to save it, but if you have any of the chapters from 38-42, it would be greatly appreciated if you got them to me. I just realized I didn't have those chapters saved on my computer (since my other one crashed), and I'm kind of in need.**

**I know it's kind of a ridiculous request, but if there's any time to be illegal, it's now. Ha. :)**

**Thanks so much. I'll update soonish, I promise! **

**-xmcrloverx**


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